Thankful Thursday

Good Morning and Welcome, Welcome, Welcome! Today I am very Thankful and I am joining the great group of other bloggers that are . . .

Too!

Today I have a big list but I am keeping it short. Strike that it isn't as short as I thought...grab a cup of coffee or Dr. Pepper  and settle in a few minutes.

 I know we all have some Muuuuuuuuch to be thankful for.  Today I want to talk about this . . .

I love this little grafic.  I am not sure where I found it. (bad blog etiquette I know sorry) I just think it is just such a great illustration. 

I was wondering are you thankful for your home?  I mean really, really thankful? 

Today I am.  There are many times that I have been happy where I live but I had a yearning to be somewhere else.  I won't go into it that is another looooooooooooong story but suffice it to say I wasn't really happy or thankful alot of the time. 

But today I am ligitimately thankful and happy.  Although I will put in that I do yearn for something else.  We recently moved to a new apartment but with the timing of getting in here and getting out of the other place we had to take all that they had which was an efficiency.  Basically it is living room, kitchen, and bedroom with no door of the livingroom.  It sn't huge but it isn't tiny either our huge king size bed that is made out of a tree fits in the room with room to spare to walk around.  Yes I said tree.  I'll show a pic of it soon.

The reason I am yearning now is we plan to move to a 2 bedroom as soon as one is available so we'll be packing and moving again!  Yep I'll be moving again.  I have almost lost count how many times we've moved in the last few years. 

And I have to tell you that none of the moves we made turned out the way we expected.  There was the apartment ministry position that after 7 months the company completely terminated the project.  We could have stayed in the apartment but the rent was really high for what it was and the location was well no where I was comfortable living with no support so to speak. 

Then there was the boys home ministry.  My husband was to be chaplain and I was to assist the director.  We went in with such high hopes.  Our hopes were soon dashed.  We prayed and prayed about what God wanted us to do.  I cannot begin to describe the horror stories. 

Then when we were finally able to leave we moved into the first apartment we could afford that we could get accepted into (by the way when you have no recent rental history it is hard to get accepted).  That apartment was the worse place I have every been.  It was 450 sq. feet with a window unit a/c.  Our electric last year was 220.00 for two months.  It was warm in winter!

 Then my Cowboy began loosing hours at work.   I am telling you it was probably one of the hardest years in many ways.   Even harder than the 2 months we spent in a hotel 3 years before. 

I know your probably thinking a lot of different things when you read this.  I know just by giving you the highlights and no real detail about how we ended up going through all this.  Actually sometimes I wonder.  No a lot of the time I wonder. 

But, I am writing all this to encourage you.  I write to tell you not to get discouraged.  We have spent the last 8 years serving God in fulltime ministry.  The last 2 years we have had to make the sacrifice for Cowboy to go back to work.  And this year I went back to work. (after not working for 30 years!) 

We struggled a lot with our decisions.  But, we are able to still do the ministry (Cowboy is chaplain at a boys rehab facility run by our state)
And God in his infinite wisdom has brought us to the place we are now.  And we are happy. 
And I have the internet and it is free.  Yes.  We are close enough to the clubhouse we get a signal! 

And, so I am happy to be able to visit my wonderful blog friends again.  I am happy in my little efficiency apartment. (at least till a 2 bedroom comes up LOL) I am happy that God has been patient with my whinning and that he has brought us to this place. 

And I am sooooooooooooooooo Thankful

Today I am praying for you.  I am praying that if your reading this and you are really a little less than thankful that you will seek God's wisdom.  That he will help you see why you are where you are now.  And that he will help you see that he has a huge plan for you.  He loves you no matter what.  Even if there are times you really can't tell he is there.  He is.  He is a master composer. He has some wonderful plans for you.  You might just have to wait a little while to see them come to be. 

Who knows you might get free internet if you wait long enough!

Thankfully Smiling on the Journey . . .